_ Jan 1, 2012

Annapurna100 Race

What a great way to start a new year!

The previous night was New Year’s eve and there were celebration parties all over the town. The streets were completely walking only and performance stages were everywhere. There was a very loud party at our hotel also. Since I figured it would too noisy to sleep well anyway, I hang out a little bit late see the local performance.

After just a few hours’ rest, I got up 4am for the 5:30am race. Dressed, packed, dropped off the clothes bag to be taken to the finish line, and I’m out there for breakfast by 4:40am. After one bowl of oatmeal, I reminded myself that it’s too close to the race to take in any solid-form food, so I just sit there drinking juice. It’s already 5am, and to my surprise, my teammates still haven’t shown up for breakfast.  I went to bathroom for the last time to clear as much things out of my system as possible. 

5:30am, the race started on time, just a few minutes after I connected our cameraman with Maji, the driver who would take him to some spots for photo shooting; and helped my super laid-back teammates who just got out of hotel room 10 minutes ago with some final details. (note: photo by LI Yang)

I’m not a fast runner so I always prefer to start near the back of the pack. I would rather catch up with people during the race than be passed by one after another. People tend to be too excited at beginning that they would run too fast at begging and burn out fast.

Not too many steps in to the race, I noticed, a few steps in front me, one of my teammates already started to slow down. She looked a bit tired already and does not speak any English, so I worried she may get lost if she was left alone in the dark. So I took her hand and ran with her.  Ngima, my Nepali friend who was running the race with me, also kindly stopped to walk behind us.  We stopped a few times to help her adjust layers or catch up her breath. More people passed us. First time doing such a long trail race, I’m not so concerned with the final time because I think finishing is good enough. Above all, safety first. I was planning to run with her until day break so I would not need to worry about her getting lost by herself in the dark.

The first 10K of the race was all on a gentle rolling uphill road that leads out of the urban area. I was surprised that many busses were out already at this hour. While their headlights helped us finding our steps, the dust and smell of gas swept by constantly made the beginning of the race really unpleasant. Not to say I come here for trail running not for road running.  A tractor passed by and suddenly burst out dark exhaust from its pipe when it’s next to me and covered my face with disgusting surprise. The driver kept on turning his head saying sorry as they noticed what happened.

Not sure how long we ran and walked together, maybe half an hour or more. There were only very few headlights running behind us. People of the city were getting up. Restaurants by roadside turned on their lights or lit up candles. Many people came out to wait for the bus on the street. Occasionally, a few dogs ran out of dark and startled us.

We are already near the outskirts of the urban area. My existence though provided some sense of safety and comfort for her, but was not helping her pace. Maybe leave her walking at her own pace would be better now since there were many people out around already. So I bid her best wishes and picked up my pace.

The road ahead was rolling uphill. I kept a gentle pace on uphill part and sped up when going downhill. Ngima were experiencing some stomach problem and stopped by the restroom at each gas station along the way.

After about  1:40 into the race, we arrived at the first check point Hyangja at 12.5K. I was a little bit disappointed at how long it took me to finish the first section. This must have been the slowest 12.5K I have ever run! But to my comfort, this is the start point of a steep up hill. A lot of people were moving slowly or stopping to rest on the hill.

I was planning to take a break here and take some food and drink. This is a long race, it’s important to eat and drink along the way to keep energy level high consistently. There were a few big bottles of water on the table but no cups. They were serving noodle soup. Looking at the few empty bowls and spoons, I doubted if any of the bowls and spoons were cleaned before they were served to the next person. So after a few seconds of tempting to take the soup, I picked up a couple cookies and took a few sips from the water I carried myself.

The hill was only maybe 50-80m high. We cut straight up to gain the hill in just a few minutes and instantly passed probably 15-20 people.  Once on top of the hill, the trail became a gentle rolling one. The view was now quite open with snow mountains in the far background.  Today was a bit cloudy and we couldn’t see too far. I was happy that I don’t need to bother with sun blocks.  I walked the uphill part and ran the downhill part. A Nepali girl and I kept passing each other but we were always within a couple hundred yards with each other.

Around maybe 15-20K range, after some up and down hills along the gravel trails, there was a sign for “Dhumpus”, the next checkpoint, pointed to a very narrow side trail downhill. I followed the turn without suspicion. Later I learned that the sign was knocked off by someone and placed in the wrong place.

After following the small trail downhill for a while, we came to a junction where there’s a narrow trail to the left and a stairway continuing downhill. Two runners who looked quite strong came up from the stairway and said “not this way”. We thanked them and followed the trail to the left.

The trail got narrower and narrower, then led us into the crops field. We held on our belief to continue along the trail. The trail was reduced to just enough to fit one foot if you still want to call it a trail. Four of us spread in the field following the same direction. I commented “this must be the wildest trail race!” We all grew suspicious as we were clearly headed into wilder fields and can’t see any other runners in front of us.

Eventually, we arrived at a small village and asked directions from local kids. They pointed almost to the sky – up there! We immediately began a wildest hill climb through bushes and mud until we found a stairway that lead up the hill. The burst of energy expense in fighting for the uphill footing in mud made me feel temporarily exhausted.  After finally getting back on the correct trail, I walked quite a while to catch up my breath.  I found a few other runners still on the trail. At least I’m still not the last one after this wild saga.

By the time I arrived at Dhumpus, the 23.5K check point, it’s already nearly 9:30am, 4 hours into the race.  I had hoped for getting here in 3 hours so I could possibly arrive at 40K point before 6 hours.  Well, things don’t always go as you wished. I’d better relax and enjoy the race instead of worrying about the timing.

There’s not much desirable eat or drink at the table. My leg started cramping at this point, so I spent some time stretching. The sign of cramps told me I need to replenish electrolytes, not just drinking water. Because there was some light rain, I may not feel I was sweating so much, but it’s important to replenish electrolytes during long race. We bought a juice at the village shop and continued.

Having been lost once, I became more cautious. But there are just numerous trail branches that either have no signs or the sign can be ambiguous. Sometimes I wait till I could ask someone, sometimes just pick one following my gut.  Leading out of Dhumpus, the trail winded through beautiful forests.  It started to rain harder. But with the steaming heat radiated from my vigorous movement, I kept on going with just T-shirt layer.

Trails are mostly on rock steps now. It’s nice to walk on when the trail is flat, but it’s brutal on knees when going down steep hills. Though I would normally use hiking poles while hiking, I found it faster to go without poles for the race purpose. A pair of runners ran past me while I was slowly moving down stair steps and disappeared. I enviously asked, “Why can you move so fast downhill?” “Practice! We ran in Nepal for a long time.” Going downhill is my weakest link in climbing. I need to plan for a dedicated training!

My going down stairs was slow that Ngima always sat on top of hill rest and chat with local people while watching me slowly moving down. When I was almost near the bottom, he would fly down in a just few seconds to catch up with me. Some people were cheering at the bottom of the stairs, and I thought that’s the 37.5K check point. But it turned out to be just a group of tourists. I realized I’m falling way behind my planned schedule by now.

By the time I arrived at the real 37.5K checkpoint at Landruk, it’s already 6 hours into the race. Here I enjoyed my favorite milk tea and some hot potatoes. I tried to check the time of my teammates, but couldn’t recall exactly their numbers and the list they have here was the old version with the messed up registration number.

From here on would be a 300m steep drop followed by a 800m steep climb to arrive at 40K checkpoint. Knowing I would go slow on downhill, Ngima decided to take a longer break and signaled me to go first. As usual, a couple Nepali girls passed me on the downhill and I could only lag behind enviously. I really hate the endless downstairs that I lost most of my time there. I could only hope to catch up when we started going uphill.

After crossing a long draw bridge, we started the steep uphill immediately. The higher I climbed, the more impressive the view was. A couple hundred meters into the uphill section, the Nepali girls stopped to rest and I just kept pressing on and gained close to another western guy that I have never met on the trail before. He must have been far ahead of me before last checkpoint.

Over-trained for this race by climbing a 5800m peak just less than a week ago, I was complaining of sore legs when just climbing to the third floor in hotel two days ago. Looks like I just recovered in time before 5:30am today since I felt totally fine just one step after another on this endless stair climbing. I actually really enjoyed the climbing much better than the downhill or the flat part.

Seeing Ngima lean on the hiking poles to pretend to be tired, I joked with him, “How do you like this race?” “It’s difficult, the altitude too low”. Ngima is a high mountain Sherpa. When we climbed little hills near cities (in lower altitude), he would complain “too hot!”

40K checkpoint was well stuffed with noodle soups, potatoes and bananas. It’s time for a well deserved break! I had three bowls of noodle soup and four steamed potatoes. I had thought about maybe trying the 70K if I could get here with 6 hours, but now is already 2pm, 7.5 hours into the race. I calculated that if I do 70K, I would have to run in the dark for a couple hours. I had done enough hours in dark in my climbing and knew it would be miserable. So I stuck to my plan for 50K. Later as I learned of the experience of those runners who was still running after dark, I felt lucky with my decision.

From 40K on is all gentle downhill. It became more foggy later in the day and valley looked more beautiful. A lot of backpackers or homecoming villagers came from the other direction. Some villages are decorated with colorful flowers and there are a lot of orange trees full of enticing fruits. There were not many runners in view and I really liked the peaceful scenery. We stopped at a village to enjoy fresh-picked oranges. Now look back, I regretted that I probably have taken it too easy for the final 10K.

As we were near the finish point, I suddenly saw a familiar figure moving swiftly out of a teahouse by the roadside. Our cameraman LI Yang! He has been here waiting for hours!

As we run together towards finish line, two Nepali young men in shorts and jump shirt sprint side by side passed me. Wow, the first two 100K runners look strong and fresh as if they were just finishing 100m!

The finish line was confusing even in day light! Not to say those who finished in dark. There was no welcoming sign visible from the trail. Even with so many people cheering from the tea house upstairs, I stood there for a few seconds, confused about which way to go!

I was surprised to learn that none of my other three teammates came back yet. Our cameraman went out in the dark to wait for them again. I really admire his professionalism and patience! But as the dark fell and hours passed, I began to grow restless. We went out to look for the cameraman, but only found his bag at that teahouse. I was very concerned that he could get lost in the dark and requested search.

7:30pm, still none of teammates coming back. But I heard a jeep went up the hill to take care of the cameraman, though I couldn’t confirm if they have got him or not. I also requested the organizer to call the last few checkpoints to see where my other teammates are.  Both YUN and XING passed Goreshep checkpoint before dark. They assured me the way between Goreshep and here should be easy to follow and no branches. We should expect both of them between 8:30 and 9pm.

8pm, finally Piaopiao and cameraman both came back! Piaopiao was all wet and shivering. Amazing job to hold on for the whole race, especially later in the dark rain! We immediately helped her finding her dry clothes and changed.

9pm, still no signs of YUN and XING. But there’s no further checkpoints beyond Gorenpani  that the organizer can call up for their trace. They comfort me that they could be here any time.

9:20pm, XING came in angrily – she ran an extra 8k because there was no sign and she could see the finish point in dark.

10:30pm, YUN is well over due, XING and Piaopiao are tired and went to sleep.

I became more anxious and kept on asking organizers any updates? They said that 6 runners are running together, 5K away. I was hoping YUN would show up soon.

11pm, A few runners came back, but no YUN

Almost 12 midnight when finally YUN came back. In contrast to Piaopiao and XING’s near-cry exhaust state, I was happy to find YUN came in relaxed and in positive mood! After dark, a bunch of them including some local runners stuck together. So when the local runners took a tea break, all would have to wait. Someone even loaned him a down jacket. Otherwise he would have been miserably cold!

As YUN is finally sitting down enjoying Dal Baht, cameraman also came back. He missed YUN because YUN came in through a backdoor!

I’m so glad everyone came back safely!

 

 

 

 

The past few days have been the most painful few days on this trip.

As I mentioned before that the condition on Shisha this season is not ideal. The snow has not consolidated well because of the lack of thawing and consolidating cycles. Earthquake on Sept 18th may have created more risk for the rocky section of the route by dislodging some rocks.

But all these are just some lame excuses. The biggest problem is inside the team. After several days of intense and very emotional debate and evaluating all the options, the dramatic final decision was that I gave up ShishaPangma.

Many decisions in life are not easy. This is not the first time I turned around without even making a summit attempt. On Aconcagua, I turned back twice when overall condition was not in favor. Feb 2008 had been one of the most painful days in my life when I decided to give up Everest trip that originally was planned for that spring when I realized that would be the right decision despite all the effort had been put in.

Again, for ShishaPangma, I sacrificed many high priority agendas and gave it all-in effort during the past year. I have endured and was ready to endure so much just for it. But after all, I think giving up is the right decision. For such a complicated project, natural condition is only one factor. It’s more important is the harmonious internal state of everyone involved. I believe one should approach such sacred mountain with uttermost respect for everything and don’t let personal ambition take over all your heart.

9月23日

痛苦的决定

过去的这几天是此行最痛苦的几天。

我前面提到本登山季节的气候条件不很理想。由于缺乏有利于化雪、冻冰的交替冷热周期，山上的雪一直没有很好地凝聚。9月18日的地震可能松动了不少岩石，增加了路线上攀岩段的危险性。

但这些仅仅是借口而已。最大的问题出在我们团队或组织内部。经过多日激烈的讨论、权衡各种解决方法，最后我决定放弃希夏邦马。

生命中的很多决定是很难做的。这也不是我第一次在登山过程中子弹未出膛就撤兵。爬阿空加瓜时，我连续两年都因为条件不成熟而半路折返。2008年二月，我过去曾经历过的最痛苦的日子，本来曾计划那年春天去爬珠峰，而且已经付出了很大的代价，但当时极为痛苦地想清楚了放弃是最明智的选择。

如今，希夏邦马，在过去的一年里为之牺牲许多重要的事情全力以赴准备，为之忍受了而且情愿继续忍受很多痛苦。然而，我明白，放弃是此时唯一正确的决定。对于这样一个复杂的攀登项目，自然条件只是一方面的因素。更重要的是每一个参与者内心的状态要与自然和谐，即所谓天时地利人和也。我坚信，对于这样一座神圣的山，攀登者应当怀着对万事万物无比尊重的心态，内心关注的不应该只有自己的渴望。

Sept 9th, 2011

carry to intermediate camp at 5500m, still sleeping at base camp

Today, we carried our group gear (tent, climbing equipment, food supplies and cooking equipment) up to 5500m, an intermediate camp before the training climb on Pangpa Ri. Having hiked up to this altitude with students two days ago (sorry kids, the place we went to last time was only 5500m, after verified this time by GPS), today’s going was much easier than expected though each of us carried heavy load. From our new camp site, we were able to see the start of glacier at the foot of Shishapangma. Tomorrow, we are moving up with our personal gear (sleeping bag, clothes, personal climbing gear). This manner of climb is called double carry, e.g. on the first day, carry up a heavy load of gear we need up high, drop it there and come back down to sleep low; then the next day, carry the remaining gear to move to the new camp. This allows us to acclimatize better by “climb high and sleep low”.

Maybe my body does have memory, or maybe it’s because of the difference in terrain, I felt much more comfortable walking and carrying heavy load at this altitude than I felt at same altitude on Everest last year.

9月9日

今天，我们把团队需要的辎重装备，比如帐篷、攀登器材、食物及做饭用的装备等，背到了5500米的过渡营地。两天前刚和学生们到过这个海拔高度（对不起同学们，根据这次ＧＰＳ的数据，上次我们到过的冰川起点海拔实际只有5500米），所以今天虽然每人负重量都很大，却走得很轻松。我们的新营地离希夏邦马很近了，可以没有遮拦得看清令人敬畏的西南壁，冰川的开始点就在我们新营地的坡下。明天，我们将把个人需要的物资，比如睡袋、各层衣服、个人攀登器械等，背上去并驻扎到新的营地。这种登山方式叫“double carry”,直译就是“背两次”。即，第一天，把扎营、攀登需要的重装背上去，然后下来回到低的营地休息；第二天，把其余（个人）装备背上去，在新的高度安营。这样“爬得高，睡得低”会让适应海拔升高的过程变得很轻松。

也许是因为身体有记忆力，也许是因为地形的不同，这次在这个海拔上行动和负重都相比于去年在珠峰南坡同样海拔上轻松很多。

Sept 10th, 2011

moving up from base camp to intermediate camp 5500m

Morning

Wake up to the sound of ice sliding off my tent, knowing it must have snowed or ice-rained last night, but still too lazy to open up eyes. Until it’s almost 10am, time for breakfast, I finally decided to get up. From inside, can see outside of my tent covered in ice. Opening up tent, a chilly air runs in. It’s much colder than the days when we first got here. It’s cloudy outside. Checking temperature inside tent, 3 centigrade. It reminds me that we are heading into winter. But after breakfast, sun broke out from the clouds and it became clear blue sky again, warm and sunny.

Afternoon

Left after lunch to move up to 5500m intermediate camp. I think I’m strong, feeling good with such heavy load.

9月10日

从大本营搬到5500米的过度营地

早晨被帐篷表面冰块滑落的声音唤醒，知道昨夜一定是下了雪或下了冰雨，但还是懒得睁眼睛。直到10点吃早饭的时刻才不得不起来。从帐篷里面可以看到外面覆盖着一层冰。打开帐篷，一股寒气袭来，比几天前到达这里时冷多了！看看温度计，帐子里只有3度。是呀，我们是在向冬天进发呢！不过，早饭后太阳从云层冲出来，又变成了蓝天白云的明媚风光。

下午吃晚饭背上装备搬家到了5500米过度营地。自我感觉不错，虽然负担很重，却感觉很有劲。

Sept 11, 2011

5500m intermediate camp, acclimatize hike to 6000m

Wake up to find rock slippery covered with thin ice.

Hiked up to 6000m in low visibility.

Tomorrow is moon festival. Tonight’s moon is very clear and had an orange ring. The whole plateau is clear that headlight is not needed at all at mid night.

9月11日

在5500米过度营地，徒步到6000米处训练

早上起来，外面的石头上都覆盖一层薄冰，滑滑的。能见度很低。我们延山脊徒步到6000米处训练。感觉良好。

明天是中秋节。今夜的月亮好清晰，套着一圈橘黄色的晕。半夜出去不用头灯也可一览无遗。

Sept 12, 2011 Moon Festival

Move from 5500m Intermediate camp to 5700m ABC

We left too late (4pm), not knowing how far is the hike. Descending down the steep screed slope, we dropped 150m altitude from 5550 to 5400 at the base of valley. Even hardcore mountaineers started cursing, “why we climb?” Such kind of hiking is really not anyone’s favorite.

Going up hill, I started in the wrong path. It’s not a good idea to head up the hill on big boulders. Smaller boulders are safer.

As we were near the top of ridge, I saw four persons through the clouds over the ridge. Our first reaction is “no way, they must be ghosts”, as they appeared again, someone cursed “what the fuck!” It turned out that these are four Nepalese Sherpa for the 2 Korean and 2 Swiss climbers. They arrived at BC yesterday. The Sherpas just did a carry to ABC today via the valley way.

It’s really a long way after the ridge that we didn’t arrive at ABC until after 8pm. A lot of interesting plants at 5700m! It’s amazing! They are so perfect!

Cloudy night, no moon. Snow.

9月12日 中秋节

从5500米过度营地搬家到5700米Pungpa Ri ABC

低估了两个营地间的距离，我们下午4点才动身。先要下一个长长的陡坡，全是大大小小的碎石，很难走。加上背着重装，不得不分外小心翼翼。 下了大约150米后到达谷底，然后还得到冰川对面再爬上去，还是同样的碎石坡。神经很紧张，完全谈不上乐趣。有的队友禁不住开始抱怨，“我们这是干嘛来了？”

刚开始上坡的时候，我的直觉选择路线错误，幸亏即使被叫回。像这样的在冰川上形成的乱石坡，不应当拣大石头为主的路线，以防滚石下来。还是小点的石头为主的线路安全。

快到坡顶的时候，忽然发现远远的山脊上有四个人影，第一反应是，不可能！见鬼了！这山上除了我们怎么还会有别人？等走近了，原来是四个尼泊尔协作，是为昨天刚到达大本营的两位瑞士登山者和两位韩国登山者往ABC运送物资的。好快呀！昨天才到大本营，他们的协作今天就到ABC了！

虽然两个营地间的海拔差不怎么大，但因为上坡下坡，穿过冰川，路途却很遥远。直到8点多才到达ABC。一路上发现在海拔5700米之高处还有那么多绝美的植物！

一夜多云，下雪，没见到中秋的月亮。

Sept 13th, 2011

5700m Pungpa Ri ABC

Wake up to blue sky, light snow cover at 9:30am. By the time I put on sunscreen to get out, it’s dark clouds all over already. As we sit down for our slow breakfast, clouds rise and disappear. Though down the valley, it’s still heavy dark clouds. Gradually, we can see clearly Pungpa Ri, then Shishsa. We just stared at it and talk about routes. It’s not like on Everest where you can just walk up the fixed line. Here, there’s no information on how to climb this mountain. First, we try to find the safest way to descend. Then, we try to figure out how to approach this mountain , from the bottom and near the top?

There are avalanche debris everywhere at foot of the hill. To the left side of the mountain, it’s full of ragged rock ridge. To the right, it’s a wide snow slope with a major rapture line from avalanche crossing the top part, then many parallel fall lines all across the face. Reading such feature, you could estimate where is prone to avalanche, where would be technically hard. No easy approach! Now this becomes the true mountaineering, not a game in the park anymore. How to climb it if we solo? Or if in pairs? Or if big party? Remember how Everest felt mentally hard last year? Now it’s a totally different game. It’s more serious, not counting on Sherpa, not counting on pre-set route. Even though we are a group, each of us needs to be self sufficient. We just stared at the mountain, trying to memorize each price of rock, trying to memorize each feature on the route.

Look at those rock ridges. It would be at least a 5.8 move there. 5.8 is nothing at sea level, but a couple such moves could kill your strength easily at 7000-8000m with no supplemental oxygen. And imagine how you are going to move with big down suit, big gloves, and crampons.

Look at avalanche zone. There you need to run non-stop.

Through binocular, hard to find a bivy spot on the steep slope.

Listening to music, sun bathing, staring at the route, too much time to kill. I took a walk to look for perfect flower. It’s amazing how perfect their shapes/colors can be at this altitude. High mountain flowers, they go through so many cycles of ice, snow, sun in a day. No wonder each of them has sharp color/shape and personality.

Lunch time 2pm. Too hot to stay in tent, but as I just came out for lunch, sun hid away and it became chilly cloudy again.

We were so sensitive to the sound of avalanche. While we were eating, we suddenly heard a bursting “hong”! We all looked up “where? Where?” Then felt suspicious “ how can it end so fast?” it’s just the cook lighting up stove!

Do I have the courage for this climb? Though by altitude, it’s only 7400s. Height of mountain is for people reading newspaper. For the mountaineers, the difference is the route. A hard route on a small hill can be harder than an easy route on the highest mountain. Am I ready?

9月13日

5700米Pungpa Ri ABC

9:30醒来的时候外面还是蓝蓝的天，地上盖着一层薄薄的雪。待我抹上防晒霜爬出帐篷，却已变成漫天乌云了。等我们慢慢悠悠地吃着早饭，云又升起消失 了。然而同时，脚下的山谷里确实黑压压一片乌云。真是瞬息万变呀！渐渐的，我们可以看到Pungpa Ri了，然后希夏邦马也显现出来。一上午，我们就那么直直地看着山，讨论路线。这里不是珠峰，没有事先设定好的线路让你沿着走。实际上，关于Pungpa Ri ，我们没有任何路线资料。首先，我们研究最全的下撤路线，然后再研究如何攀登，从上，从下，如何走最安全最便捷？

山脚下到处都是雪崩后留下的碎冰、雪块。山左边，到处是岩石；右边，是个大雪坡，一道鲜亮的雪崩断裂线从接近坡顶的地方横穿而过，下面还有很多并行的纵线自上而下辐射。仔细读每一个细节，你可以判断哪里常发生雪崩，哪里会有技术难度。从那面看都不容易！这样的登山可不再是像公园里游戏那么轻松的事了！如果单兵作战该如何上？两人绳组？更多的人？不同情形可能要选择不同的策略。记得去年登珠峰时觉得是意志的极大挑战，如今感觉更难了。完全要靠自己摸索的路线，没有协作，一切的风险度都更高了。我们就那么久久 地盯着山，努力记住线路上的每一块石头，每一个特征。

看那些石头山脊，至少也是5.8的难度吧？5.8在平地上只是个初级难度，但在7000-8000米，没有辅助氧气，几个5.8 的动作就能把你的力气耗尽。更何况，你还要穿着大羽绒服，戴着大手套，蹬着大大的登山靴和冰爪。

看那些易发生雪崩的地段，你必须以最快速度穿过。

用望远镜找了半天，偌大一片雪坡似乎找不到建临时营地的一方之地。

一天的漫长 时光就在听着音乐，沐浴着阳光，盯着登山路线中度过。看久了，我起身去散散步，寻找高山上那完美的花儿们。高山上的花儿们，她们一天要经历不知多少次冰、雪、阳光的轮转，难怪会有那样灿烂的颜色，独特的形状与性格。生存在这样的高海拔上，还有比她们更完美的吗？

午饭是2点，那时正好是最热的时候，然而当我们刚坐下来吃饭，太阳躲到了云后面，瞬间变得寒气刺骨。

我们大概对雪崩太敏感了。正吃着饭，忽然听到“轰”的一声，我们都抬起头来，“在哪儿？在哪儿？”然后开始怀疑：“怎么这么快就停了？”哈哈，才发现是帮我们做饭的协作刚点着了炉子！

我有勇气去尝试爬这座山吗？山不在高。一座小山的高难度路线可以比最高的山更有挑战性。我准备好了吗？

Sept 14- 15, 2011

Pungpa Ri ABC, 5700m

Continue to study the slope, watch for the pattern of avalanche. Took a walk to the base of the climb and found the angle is not that terrible as when looked from far away. We got an idea of a relative safe and easy route on the slope and decided we make an attempt tomorrow night.

9月14 -15日

继续研究路线，观察雪崩的规律。走到山脚下，发现从近处看，似乎坡度不像远看时的那么恐怖。我们计划好了一条相对安全便捷的路线，打算明天夜里上山。

Sept 16th – Sept 17th, 2011

Pungpa Ri ABC 5700m

Pungpa Ri climb

We left ABC at about 7pm, arrived at base of climb just before dark. After making some hot water, dinner, and short rest, we set off on the slope shortly after mid night. The snow was loose and took a lot of effort to break the trail. Since this is only a training peak for acclimatization, our goal was only to get as high as we can that would allow us to get down before sun comes up to heat up the slope.

After maybe about 4 or 5 hours, we stopped at around 6700m. We dug a tent platform in the steep snow. Four persons crawled into the 2 person BD First Light tent. Cold and hard to sleep, but we still managed to have some rest of about an hour by stacking one’s body part above another’s before we descended the hill.

9月16-17日

Pungpa Ri 攀登

9月16日晚上7点我们从ABC出发，在天黑前到达山脚下。休息了几个小时，烧水，煮饭，半夜时分我们开始上山了。雪很松，费了好大劲才开出一条路来。由于这只是我们为适应海拔的训练性攀登，我们的目标是能到多高算多高，重要的是要在太阳照在雪坡上之前下撤，以避免遇上雪崩。

大概爬了4、5个小时，我们在6700米左右停了下来。在陡坡上挖了一小块平地，我们四个人挤进了简单的双人帐，肢体互相架着、压着，虽然又冷又挤，很难入睡，但好歹也算休息了一个小时左右。趁着太阳还没升高，我们都安全地下撤回到了营地。

Sept 18, 2011

Back to Base Camp

After breakfast, we took the long detour around the valley to get back base camp in late afternoon. It was an easier and very scenery way, avoiding going down then up the rock slides, albeit very long. Color of grass on the way is more in the orange and red tone, reminds me of fall. Just slightly over a week, the tone of autumn has arrived!

The Swiss and Korean climbing team set up a much smaller but very colorful base camp with a slight distance from us. According to Sherpa, Sherpa for them already fixed ropes for 2 pitches while the two Korean climbers actually are still resting in base camp. It’s said they would climb up and down their fixed rope to acclimatize before they finally reach the summit.

It’s nice to be back at base camp again. Everything inside my tent is still the same. Rearranged my small space to make the next few days here as comfy as possible. Home sweet home.

Dinner tent felt quite roomy after having been hunching under the tarp for meals during the past few days. It’s a nice change to sit on a chair for dinner again!

The first dinner was a big one – pasta, chicken legs (I had three! Since most people does not have a big appetite), potato Tutsi (potato pie), and finished with apple pie!

Today happen to be camp manager Igran’s birthday. While we all stood up to sing birthday song to him and gave him a hug, the ground shook a little bit as everyone else claimed though I actually didn’t feel it. At the same time, we heard a loud sound that sounded like stove firing up. John quickly came to the explanation – it’s earthquake and the avalanche resulted from it. How lucky we are to be at base camp enjoying dinner right now! What would it be like if we were climbing on the snow slope or hiking on the rock pile?

9月18日

回到大本营

吃过早饭，我们绕着山谷一圈回到大本营。不过才过了一周多，发现一路上的花草已变成了红色或橘黄的色调。秋天来啦！

瑞士队和韩国队的大本营规模比我们小点，离我们也有相当的距离。据说，当他们还在大本营休息的时候，他们的协作已经把他们设好了几个绳段的固定绳索了。他们将借助这些固定绳索攀登。

回到大本营好亲切！我的小家里一切如旧。重新布置一下，要让下面几天的日子过得舒舒服服的。

吃饭的大帐显得好大呀！过去几天在山上我们都是躲在一块防风布下席地围坐一圈，现在我们可以围着桌子、坐在椅子上了！

今天的接风晚餐好丰盛呀！面条，鸡腿（我吃了三条鸡腿！），土豆饼，还有甜点苹果派！

今天还正巧是大厨的生日。正当我们都站起来给他唱生日歌的时候，大地突然开始摇晃。接着我们听到外面有巨大的声响。大家都跑出去看。原来是地震了！以及地震引起的雪崩。好幸运呀！不敢想象，如果这发生在一天或两天前，当我们正在雪坡上或乱石堆上，后果会是如何？

Sept 19th, 2011

Base Camp

My bed is really comfortable with the extra cushion of the downmat, but I had a hard time to fall asleep. Maybe it was too warm, too soft, too comfortable. It’s weird why here is much more comfortable than Everest. I remember, on Everest, my throat was so itchy every night since about 4000m that I had to keep cough drop in my throat to go sleep; My nose was always stuffed with bloody stuff, and I need to have it covered with buff day and night. But here, I only occasionally need to clean my nose and it’s not so bloody; I don’t need to hide inside sleeping bag to sleep that the air outside is just good enough to breath while sleeping. I seldom need cough drop neither here. Life is just much more enjoyable here. Maybe because of the vegetation and lack of tourist traffic that the environment here is much more humane.

Took my first “shower” since I left Nyalam on Sept 1st. To take the shower, hang a bucket of warm water on the hook in our shower tent, then slowly wet the hair and body from the water dripped down through the tiny faucet hole. It’s nice to feel comfortable to let down my hair again! It’s nice to feel clean again.

The second group of students from ShanTou Univ arrived in early afternoon. They were so energetic that the altitude is nothing for them. They don’t seem to need a moment’s rest!

9月19日

大本营

回到大本营第一夜，软软的气垫太舒服了，再加上比山上暖和得多，竟然令我久久不能入睡。奇怪，这里为什么比在珠峰的日子舒服得多呢？记得去年在珠峰的日子里，从4000米开始我的喉咙就经常因为干痒而难以入睡，天天靠润喉糖度日；鼻子也总是堵塞难受。而在这里，这些都不是问题，我也不需要因为空气干寒而把头埋在睡袋里入睡。这里的生活相对舒适多了。也许是因为没有游客使得植被环境保持得好吧？

早上洗了澡，9月1日进山来第一次！在这里洗澡，就是把一桶水挂在帐子顶上，让水从小小的龙头里滴出来，慢慢浸湿头发、身体。无论怎样，洗个澡是好爽的事！又可以把头发放下来了！

下午，汕头大学的第二批的师生到了。他们好有活力啊！仿佛这里的海拔不是回事儿，他们一刻不停地欢呼嬉闹着，不需要休息。

Sept 20-22nd, 2011

We are undergoing intense discussion about our climbing plan these days. The earthquake on Sept 18th triggered huge avalanche and lose up rocks on mountains. We were lucky to be sitting in the base camp that night, the Korean and Swiss team happen to be under ShishaPangma at that moment. They were lucky to escape the huge avalanche and had pretty scary experience with loose rocks on the route. Monsoon season which was supposed to end a couple weeks ago is still ruling the mountain. We haven’t seen sunshine for many days and were having wet snow every day. The climbing condition is much worse than “perfect” season. If and how are we going to climb is up in the air for now.

9月20-22日

大本营休息

这几天，我们在不停地讨论下一阶段的计划。18日的地震引起了大规模的雪崩，山上的很多石头松动了。我们当时很幸运是在大本营 吃晚饭。韩国队和瑞士队当时正好在希夏邦马峰下扎营，侥幸地躲过了雪崩和落石，但被吓得够呛。本该在几周前结束的季风依然没有离开，还得我们整天阴雪绵绵，多日不见阳光了。登山线路的状况目前很不理想。所以，到目前为止，关于下一步如何行动，都还是未知。

What has been happening:

Sept 3rd, Rest day in Camp 4700m

Sept 4th, Extra rest day. Due to sickness of some supporting staff, we decided to stay at Camp 4700m for another day for the benefit of best acclimatization of everyone. We went with students for hike around the camp to reach altitude of 5000m.

Sept 5th, Hike from 4700m Camp to 5300m, our base camp. Three sick staff members were sent back to Nylam. Whole team arrived at Base Camp in good shape.

Sept 6th, Rest day. Everyone feeling good.

Sept 7th, All went up to glacier around 5900m. Students learned walking on glacier with rope and ice climbing. Everyone is in good shape.

Sept 8th, The first group of 10 students (20 students come in two batches) is leaving the mountain. We are having a rest day.

Sept 9th, We are going up to ABC (Advanced Base Camp) for acclimatization training. We plan to be back to Base Camp within a week before we make an attempt on Shishapangma.

主要事件日程表

9月3日，在4700米营地休息

9月4日，临时增加的休息日。由于几位支持团队的成员状况不佳，为了保证大家的最佳适应，我们决定在4700米营地多休息一天。我们和学生们一起在周围的山上徒步，最高到达5000米海拔。

9月5日，从4700米营地徒步到5300米大本营。3名生病的支持团队的成员下山返回聂拉木。

9月6日，在大本营休息。大家状态都很好。

9月7日，大家一起徒步到5900米左右的冰川开始处。学生们学习了在冰川上结绳行进和攀冰。9月8日，第一批10名学生（汕大的20名师生分两批来）离开大本营返校。我们在大本营休息。9月9日，我们将搬到前进营地（ABC）进一步适应性训练，为期一周左右。然后回到大本营休整。

Blog:

Sept 5th, arriving at base camp

For the whole hike, we have been treated with refreshing air and beautiful flowers that I totally didn’t expect. I couldn’t believe we can be so lucky to still enjoy the alpine garden so high in the base camp! This has to be the most beautiful base camp I have ever had – turquoise glacier lake, giant flat ground bigger than football field covered in green grass and colorful flowers. We have all these to ourselves as the only group here!

9月5日，抵达大本营

我们这一路上享受着温润的空气和美丽的花海，已经超出了我的预期。没想到，我们的大本营在那么高的海拔上也是同样的美丽！这绝对是我到过的最美的大本营—透绿的湖，足球场那么大的平整草地，还有五颜六色的花儿们！而且，这么美丽的世界完全为我们一个团队独家拥有！

Sept 6th, our new home base

It was cloudy when we arrived in the afternoon that we couldn’t see surrounding mountains at all. It was a nice excitement to see the ragged southwest face of Shishapangma the next morning. On the other side, we were shocked at how far glacier has retreated. When the southwest face was first climbed in 1980s, where we are setting up our base camp was their advanced base camp (ABC) and it was where glacier started. At that time, the beautiful lake we are enjoying was completely frozen. Now, what immediately above our base camp are rocky hills! By our visual estimate, the line of glacier is at least another 500m away vertically.

Seduced by the beautiful reflection of mountains in the lake, I took a walk around our lake in the morning to enjoy the 360 degree view of our new home base. To my amazement, I even found a primitive fish-like life in the lake!

9月6日， 我们的新家

昨天下午我们到达的时候大本营笼罩在云雾里，所以根本看不见周围的山。直到今天早上才得以看到希夏邦马那充满着刚毅性格纹路的西南壁。在兴奋的同时，我们也很惊异于冰川线的萎缩。当1982年西南壁第一次被攀登时，我们现在的大本营（5300米）是他们的前进营地，冰川线就是从这里开始的。我们营地边那个美丽的湖当年是个冰湖。现在，我们营地周围的山上都是裸露的石头。凭视觉判断，我们离冰川线还有至少500米的海拔距离。

早晨，我沿着湖散步一大圈，从360度欣赏周围的山在湖里的倒影。一个意外的收获，居然在这样高寒的湖里发现了一种接近鱼状的全身透明的生命！

Sept 7th

I woke up at the pounding sound on my tent and was surprised to realize that my tent is all covered in a thick layer of snow. Our friendly Sherpa boy was cleaning our tents so that we don’t get crushed. The past few days have been pretty warm that we totally didn’t expect snow to come this suddenly. Some students who haven’t seen snow in their lives yet have been complaining the lack of snow all the way. Now they got their wish. As anyone would guess, students got up early with all the excitement and spent a couple hours snow fighting and making snow man.

After breakfast, we all set out for a hike to glacier at about 5900m. The whole hike before the glacier point was on rocky trail. It was fun to see the excitement on students’ face as we taught them traveling on glacier on rope and ice climbing. This might be the highest introduction to glacier travel and ice climbing class in the world. Maybe some of them will find their passion for climbing too.

9月7日

天还没亮，我被拍打帐篷的声音惊醒，才发现我的帐篷上盖着厚厚的雪。是我们的尼泊尔协作在帮我们清理帐篷上的积雪。过去这几天都很暖和，完全没预料到有可能会下雪，而且来得那么悄悄的毫无征兆的。汕大的很多学生在这之前还没见过雪呢，一路上还挺失望的。这回可让他们如愿以偿了。不用想也可遇见，同学们早早就睡不着觉了，还没开早饭就已经忙了半天打雪仗、堆雪人。

吃过早饭，我们一起徒步去冰川开始的地方，大概是5900米左右。到达冰川前，一路都是石头路。虽然到那里时同学们都很累了，还是很积极地学习冰川结绳行进和攀冰的技术。看着他们兴奋的笑容，我们也很开心。这大概是世界上海拔最高的初级冰川行进和攀冰入门课了。也许他们当中有些人会因此行和山结下不解之缘。

Base Camp Life

Life in the mountain is pretty simple. When we are not out hiking, days can pass really slow: 10am breakfast, 2 pm lunch, 9pm dinner. And you figured, a lot of sleep time between meals. Though our watch is on Beijing time, sun rise and sets on Kathmandu time. That’s why we such late nighters and late risers.

Meals in the base camp are much better than what we had in Nyalam restaurants. We have several very nice Sherpa from Nepal to help us run the base camp. They did an amazing job preparing delicious meals everyday though the supply in the mountains can be quite limited. For breakfast, we normally have muesli, porridge, toast and eggs. For lunch, normally just a couple slices of spam and a few pieces of bread. Dinner of course is the biggest one of the day. Starting with a simple soup and ending with a desert like canned fruit or homemade pudding, the main course often comes with limited vegetable and some meat such as chicken or beef, though each of us would only have a few pieces that would be far from satisfying our endless appetite. Tonight’s dinner (Sept 7th) was a little bit special because this is last dinner for the first group of students. We each had two pieces of chicken leg and a slice of pizza. The desert was freshly baked cake!

大本营的生活

在山里的生活很简单。如果不出去徒步训练，一天一般是这样过的：早上10点吃早饭，下午两点午饭，晚上9点晚饭。不用说你也可以猜到，剩下的时间很多是用来睡觉了。虽然我们的手表是按北京时间，但这里的日出日落是按加德满都时间的。所以我们成了晚睡晚起的动物。

在大本营的伙食比聂拉木的饭馆强多了。我们有好几位来自尼泊尔的协作帮我们管理大本营的基本生活。尽管在山里条件有限，他们还是每天翻着花样地给我们做出可口的饭菜。早饭一般是粗麦片，粥，面包，鸡蛋。中午一般比较简单，每人几片面包，两三片罐头午餐肠。晚饭自然是一天中最丰盛的一顿，饭前有开胃汤，饭后有罐头水果之类的甜点，主餐经常会有鸡肉、牛肉、蔬菜之类的，虽然量一般少得只够我们在嘴唇上抹抹油。不过今天（9月7日）例外，因为第一批学生明天就要走了。每人吃到了两条鸡腿和一块匹萨饼，甜点更是意外 –特制的蛋糕！

Current Status

So far, we are all acclimatizing well. Tomorrow, we are going to have a rest day before we move up to Advanced Base Camp on Sept 9th. From there, we will do acclimatizing climbs in some smaller peaks before we get ready for Shishapangma.

现状

目前，我们状态都很好。明天（9月8日），我们在大本营休息。后天（9月9日），我们将搬家到前进营地去。在那里，我们将做一周左右的最后的适应性训练。